The What, What
by irishwerewolves
Summary: Martha Black and her friends are about to start their second year at Hogwarts SchooL. This is their version of what happens in the fourth Harry Potter book. MAJOR SPOILS! DO NOT READ IF HAVEN'T READ HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE! rated T for safety.
1. The Party Before the Friends

The what, what

**The What, **_**What**_

_Chapter 1: The Party Before The Friends_

12 year old Martha Black was writing to her friends on the 1st of August, just before her second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started. She'd already sent a letter to three of her friends, Lannastar Potter, Dora Snape and Christine Wilkinson. She was just finishing off the letter to her other friend, Adelyne Marlo.

_Done!_ She thought to herself, folding the letter and placing it in an envelope which she tied to the leg of the Black family owl, Firebane, so named because of the red-orange plumage running from his head to the tip of his tail. Firebane took off out of Martha's bedroom window, just as the latter heard her mother calling her downstairs for dinner.

She ran down the stairs and into the dining room, where she took her place next to her father, Sirius Black. Sirius was tall, with shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes and a rather handsome face for someone who had spent twelve years in Azkaban Prison. Her mother, Natalie Black, on the other hand, was medium height (though still quite a bit taller than Martha) with long light brown hair and pale blue eyes full of understanding and very emotive. Martha's younger half-sister, Georgia, came thundering down the stairs and into the dining room, taking her place between Sirius and their nine year old brother, Cody, who sat next to an empty seat which would soon be filled by Natalie. Georgia was short and very plump with long, mousey coloured hair and small, black watery eyes. She was a splitting image of her father, Peter Pettigrew, whom everyone thought was dead, but he'd only cut his finger off and run away from the scene which had been the scene of a horrific murder of thirteen Muggles (non-magical folk) and one wizard.

_Sirius had been on the scene, trying to stop Pettigrew before he blew up the street with his wand, but couldn't stop him blowing it up and killing all those people, not to mention injuring several more, before cutting off his forefinger and fleeing in his animagi form, a rat. Sirius stayed on the scene, kneeling by Natalie's lifeless form, when the Ministry Aurors appeared on the scene and took him. Natalie had been pregnant with Martha at the time, and both would've died, had St. Mungo's hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries not appeared on the scene and taken her to hospital. Martha was born about seven months afterwards, along with her identical twin sister, which her parents had named Christene, and Sirius had been notified of their birth by Natalie. She'd then proceeded to trying to prove his innocence to the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He'd released Sirius and that was when Pettigrew arrived at their house and killed Christene and raped Natalie to get her pregnant. He then shortened her pregnancy so that she went into labour almost immediately afterwards. This had happened when Martha was only a year old and only about three weeks after Georgia was born, Sirius had been convicted for another murder, of a mother and her baby daughter, and sent to Azkaban again, where Natalie took Martha and Georgia to visit him after two years and they'd been thrown into the cell by patrolling Aurors who'd said visiting time was over. They'd spent about six weeks in the cell when Natalie had found out that she was pregnant again with Sirius' child. She gave birth nine months later to a baby boy which the pair had called Cody and then they were released three months after that, but Sirius stayed because he was still thought guilty for the last murder. And after about eight years, he'd escaped and rejoined his family at home._

"Martha?" came her father's voice, tearing her away from her deep thoughts and she looked at him, realised both her siblings were eating and blushed slightly.

"Are you alright Martha?" Natalie asked her softly, looking concerned.

"I'm alright." Martha muttered, embarrassed.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked her as she began to eat. She nodded to show she was okay and eventually both her parents started eating again.

When she went to bed that night, she heard a tap on the window and she slowly got out of bed and walked to her bedroom window. In the window, silhouetted against the full moon in the background, she saw Firebane tapping on the glass. She opened her window and he flew inside, landing on her bed. She walked over to him and untied Adelyne's reply from his leg, before opening it and beginning to read.

_Dear Martha,_

_Thanks for the invite to the Start of Term party you're having. I've talked it over with my parents and they've said I'm able to go, and that I'm even allowed to stay overnight so we can all get on the train together in the morning! Hopefully I'll see you before then, when we're getting our books for school. I've also spoken to the others and we've decided a time to get our books, so we're all together. Ask your parents if it's alright if you're able to meet us at the Leaky Cauldron at midday on the 20__th__ of August._

_Hope to see you then,_

_Your friend_

_Adelyne._

Martha finished reading the letter and decided to immediately go ask her parents about meeting the other Canine Maraudesses at the Leaky Cauldron, so she placed the letter on her desk and walked down the stairs and into the hallway. She entered the lounge and saw Sirius sitting in an armchair, looking at a picture.

"Dad?" she asked him timidly. He looked up as she approached.

"Can't sleep?" he asked her as she sat down.

"It's not that. I wanted to ask you and Mum something." She said and he sighed, placing the picture on the arm of the chair and walking over to her.

"Your mother's not here at the moment." He said shortly.

"Where is she?"

"She's gone to see Remus and Minerva. Minerva's been injured."

"But tonight's the full moon! She could be bitten by Remus!" she exclaimed, standing up. Sirius sighed deeply and picked up the picture.

"Sit down for a second Martha. I know you're worried, but there's no need to be. Your mother knows what she's doing." He said calmly and Martha sat down again and he sat next to her on the couch and showed her the picture.

"That's a picture of the Marauders." Martha said softly and Sirius nodded.

"That it is." He said, "But do you know the origin of five of us becoming animagi?"

"Not really. All I know is that it was because you found out Remus was a werewolf."

"That's part of the reason. The other part was that we trusted Remus not to attack us while we were animals. Although there were near misses with one of us or any other student being bitten, we still trusted him. We knew that on the full moons, werewolves lose their minds as they become complete monsters, so three of us became large animals so we were able to keep a werewolf in check. I trust him now not to attack your mother while she's there. Just try to understand that, okay?" he asked her.

"Okay." Martha replied.

"Here, you have this, I don't need it anymore. But what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"Ummm…oh bugger! I forgot now!" she exclaimed and Sirius laughed. "Oh no, now I remember. Am I able to go to collect my books from Diagon Alley at midday on the 20th?" she asked. "Because that way I'm able to meet my friends there."

"That's fine with me. I'll ask your mother when she gets back. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks Dad." She said, walking out of the lounge and back up to her bedroom. She got into bed, but now she couldn't sleep, because she was so worried about Natalie. She knew Sirius trusted Remus Lupin, having been his friend at school, but she wasn't sure she could. Although Remus had been her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher the previous year at school, and she knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone, she still couldn't fully trust him not to hurt her. Eventually, though, she fell asleep, but she dreamed. And they weren't good dreams either.

She was waiting behind a tree in someone's yard. She could hear the snarling of werewolves. There were more than one and they were hungry. Then she saw a human figure move in the darkness. The moon came out from behind the clouds and she saw who the figure was. It was Natalie and Martha wasn't sure if it was just a trick of the light from the moon, but she thought she saw Natalie's face twitch with what Martha thought was fear. Then she no longer had to use her ears to pick out the location of the werewolves, because she could see them. There were two of them and they were heading straight for Natalie. Her breathing coming in small gasps, Martha moved silently towards them. She was close now. So close that she could smell their putrid breath as they walked slowly towards Natalie, who was looking around in fear. Martha saw them stop, looking straight at Natalie. She bent her knees, ready to jump in front to protect Natalie, but the werewolves were too quick. They leapt at Natalie and Martha was amazed at their speed and agility. Then the larger male had Natalie in his jaws. Natalie screamed and Martha wanted to run to her, to stop the werewolf, but the smaller female werewolf was now looking at Martha, a kind of hunger in her yellow eyes. Then she howled, and Martha saw the male werewolf stop in his tracks, Natalie still in his mouth, her head hanging limp and deep wounds in her neck. Then the werewolf suddenly dropped her and howled along with his smaller counterpart. Martha seized this chance to run forwards, grab Natalie and drag her gently behind a row of densely packed trees. She checked her pulse, but couldn't find one. Suddenly, the female werewolf appeared and grabbed Natalie again, shaking her head vigorously and Martha screamed to try and make her stop. She continued screaming, and found herself being shaken. She looked around and saw the male werewolf with his mouth gently on her arm and shaking her. He continued shaking her and she closed her eyes, hoping he would stop.

Opening her eyes again, she saw Sirius gently shaking her arm, his face pale. He stopped shaking her arm and that was when she noticed tears in his eyes.

"Dad, what's wr–" she began but was silenced with a look from her father. He didn't say anything, but she knew he wanted her to get out of bed. She got out of bed and put a dressing gown on and followed him out onto the landing. Only when they were out of her bedroom did Sirius speak, and even then he spoke softly.

"Are you okay Martha?" he asked her and she nodded.

"It was only a nightmare." She replied.

"What was it about?"

"Mum. And werewolves. I can't remember every detail, but I remember that in it, Mum was killed by two werewolves. As I said, it was only a nightmare."

"Maybe so, but I need to show you something. And once you have seen this, you'll most likely think that your dream may have been seeing something that really happened, and not any old dream." He said, leading Martha into his bedroom and Martha could see someone lying on the bed. Moving closer, she was able to see who it was. It was Natalie, though she didn't look very much like Natalie. Her face was pale and her brown hair was all over the place. Her whole left arm was bandaged, as was her right ankle. There were scratches all over her face and neck and her eyes were closed quite tightly, her teeth gritted in pain. And to top it up, all the memories from Martha's dream came flooding back to her and she burst into tears by her mother's bed. Natalie opened her eyes slowly and looked at Martha's sobbing form next to her. She placed her right arm around her daughter's shoulders and pulled her closer.

"What's wrong Martha?" she asked softly.

"She had a nightmare that you were killed by two werewolves. And seeing you in this condition must've brought the memories back." Sirius said softly, sitting next to his daughter, his right hand on her back. Natalie sighed and sat up slowly, pulling Martha into a hug.

When the day of the twentieth of August came, Martha and her parents went to the Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding pub, separating the wizarding alley, Diagon Alley, from the Muggle streets. Looking at her watch, Martha saw that she was about five minutes early, when she suddenly heard an excited shout.

"Martha!"

It was Christine, and Martha saw her friend's parents for the first time.

"Heya Christine!" she said excitedly, as Christine's parents walked slowly over.

"Hello, you must be Martha." Christine's mother said kindly to Martha.

"Yes, and this is my mother, Natalie Black." Martha said, indicating Natalie.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Angelina, and this is my husband William Wilkinson." Christine's mother said kindly, greeting Martha and Natalie politely.

"I'd heard from Christine that your father was Sirius Black. Is that right, or was she just having a bit of fun?" William asked Martha softly, so no one else could hear him.

"She was telling the truth. Sirius Black is my father. He's the larger dog. The one with the pointed ears and the scruffy fur." Martha replied in an undertone.

"I know. I was one of the Marauders. The amount of times I'd seen him transform, I'd recognise him anywhere." William said, laughing softly and walking over to Sirius. "Hello Sirius." He said to the dog, which wagged his tail and jumped up with his forepaws on William's shoulders. "Yup, its him." He laughed, pushing Sirius' paws off his shoulders. Martha and the others all laughed as they saw this, when there was suddenly another excited shout as all of her other friends came running towards them, their parents walking behind them.

"Hey Maraudesses!" Martha said excitedly to her friends. "Oh yeah, this is my mum, Natalie Black, and this dog is my dad."

"Wait a sec Martha, your dad is a _dog_?" Adelyne's mother asked her incredulously.

"Eve, that isn't an ordinary dog. That dog is in fact a man. A man by the name of Sirius Black." Adelyne's father explained softly to her. She looked him, then at Sirius and back at him.

"Wait, so Sirius actually has a daughter?" she asked her husband.

"Yes, and a son, unless I'm mistaken." He said, looking at Sirius, who inclined his head. Martha sighed.

"Alright, anyone who would like to meet my father _in person_ please follow me." She said and everyone followed her. "Okay, considering I know some of you have met him previously, this could be interesting. Oh well, I guess you just want to greet him as a person, rather than a dog." She added, laughing as she led them into another room where she knew no one ever went. "Okay Dad, you can show yourself now." She said and Sirius transformed back to a man.

"Hello Sirius. Long time no see." William, Adelyne's father, whom Martha had found out, was called Marcus, and Jason Potter, Lannastar's father, all chorused, taking it in turns to shake Sirius' hand.

"Long time no see, guys. Especially not since they were born." He said, indicating the Maraudesses, who were talking excitedly.

"No, too right there, Sirius." William laughed, motioning for Angelina to come forward. "Now, I'd like you to meet my wife, Angelina. Angelina, this is an old friend of mine, Sirius."

"Pleased to meet you Sirius." Angelina said softly.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Angelina." Sirius replied. "And it's good to see you again, Eve." He added, nodding towards Adelyne's mother, Eve.

"Yes, welcome back to the world of civilians, rather than the world of Aurors." Eve replied and Sirius started laughing.

"To tell the truth, I'd much rather be in the world of civilians. Aurors are too hard-cored." He said and it was Eve's turn to laugh.

"I had no idea you were even married, let alone being a father." She laughed. "So I was a bit confused when Martha said that her father was the dog. I was thinking that's not really possible is it?"

"You're right about that, Eve." Natalie laughed. "Physically impossible for a human woman to be impregnated by a dog. Though it could be rather interesting."

"Anyway, who's this lovely lady – sorry Natalie – that's with you, Severus?" Sirius asked, grinning guiltily at Natalie.

"Are you trying to make me forgive you for what you nearly did to me, Black?" Dora's father, Severus Snape, growled in a low voice.

"Hey, I already apologised, Severus, so I think it's about time you forgave me, don't you think?" Sirius asked him, and Martha and Dora looked up at their respective fathers, then at each other and nodded.

"Alright, I suggest you don't argue now, Dad. Martha and I both know what he did, and yet, _we_ were able to put aside our differences and become friends. So why can't you do that? Sirius already wants to make amends, so why don't you forgive him and get on with life. Just forgive and forget." Dora said, walking towards Severus, and his wife, whom Dora had explained was called Rosmerta, nodded in agreement to her daughter.

"I agree Severus. There's no point holding grudges. Besides, he didn't kill you, did he?"

"No, but he could've; quite easily. And the title 'Mad Mass Murderer' would've suited him quite well." Severus said.

"Professor; that was just a prank to stop you going too far into their business. He'd even told James to hide at the halfway point of the tunnel to stop you. He didn't really want to kill you. He didn't even mean for you to get as far as the end of the tunnel. That wasn't meant to happen." Martha explained and Severus looked hard at Sirius.

"Is what your daughter is telling me true, Black?" he asked in an undertone. "You really didn't want to hurt me?"

"What Martha said is true, but no, I really didn't want to hurt you. I'd never be able to accept being responsible for another person's death. Nor could I accept if I actually _killed_ another person with my own hand." Sirius replied in a whisper. Severus inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, nodding.

"Alright. I'll forgive you." He said so all the others could hear. He slowly moved his hand to shake Sirius'. When they finally shook hands, everyone else cheered at knowing that they'd finally put aside their differences and forgiven each other.

"Dad, does this mean that you and Mum will be coming with me to Martha's Start of Term party?" Dora asked her father.

"Okay, we'll go too." He finally said and Martha and Dora looked at each other, grinned, and started jumping up and down, laughing.

Ten days later, Martha's friends and their families all arrived and she greeted them all enthusiastically.

The party went well into the night and Martha enjoyed the whole thing. Eventually, it was time for bed and Martha and her friends all hit the sack in her room.

"You know Martha, I'm surprised that Dean isn't here." Adelyne said, laughing and Martha looked thoughtful.

"I'm not. Although the relationship is going quite well, he's in France with his parents and he doesn't return until midnight tonight, so that he's able to get on the train on time tomorrow morning." Martha replied.

"And I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened to your mum's arm and ankle? Not to mention her face and neck." Dora asked her quietly.

"She went to see Remus and Professor McGonagall. You know how they're married. Well, okay, it was on the night of the first of this month, and that was the full moon and she was bitten by Remus." Martha replied and in the dim light of the nearly full moon, she could see all her friends' jaws drop.

"So she's a … a _werewolf_?" Lannastar asked in a whisper. Martha nodded solemnly.

"Oh well, that means I'm not alone on full moons this year in the Shrieking Shack." Christine said, grinning.

"What do you mean, Christine?" Martha asked her friend. "You're not a werewolf too, are you?"

"Yep. I was born a werewolf. Your fathers may not have told you this, but my dad was bitten by Remus one full moon and ever since then has been a werewolf. Mum was shocked when she found out and she seemed hurt when she found out that when I was born, I took after my father in such a way that I even inherited his werewolf gene. Ever since the day I was born, I was transforming on full moons. At first Mum was reluctant to let me go with Dad on the full moons, but eventually she had to give in. She knew that if she didn't let me go, I would end up biting her and she'd be a werewolf then." Christine finished and Martha looked at her friend, tears in her eyes. "So … so you went with Remus every full moon last year?" she whispered.

"Yeah, and I'm telling you now, he's a bloody violent werewolf!" Christine replied and Martha looked shocked, the details of the dream trickling back to her.

"Is that why you were always in the Hospital Wing after every full moon? I thought you had just been beaten up by the Whomping Willow, and I don't know why Madam Pomfrey and Professor Talleo encouraged the theory, rather than just telling us the truth." Dora said, as it dawned on her.

"Okay, before we give each other nightmares, let's get to sleep." Adelyne said, seeming to sense Martha's discomfort about the subject.

"Good idea Adelyne." Lannastar agreed and the five girls lay down and all were soon asleep, except for Martha, who lay awake, remembering the dream she'd had the night Natalie had been bitten. Eventually, she decided she should talk about it to her parents, even though she knew it was a subject that they'd rather avoid. So she silently got out of bed and walked towards her parents' bedroom, where she knocked on the door. Sirius opened it, in his pyjamas.

"What's wrong Martha?" he asked her in a whisper.

"Dad, I need to talk to you and Mum." She replied. "And I know you'd rather not talk about this, but I need to know what happened the night Mum was bitten."

"Okay, come in." Sirius sighed, leading Martha into the room and closing the door. "Natalie," he whispered, gently shaking his wife awake. "Natalie, Martha needs to talk to us."

Natalie opened her eyes slowly and sat up, inviting Martha to sit on the bed.

"What's wrong Martha?" she asked.

"Mum, I know you'd prefer to avoid this subject, and I'm sorry to bring it up, but do you think you could please let me know basically what had happened the night you'd been bitten?" Martha asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. Natalie sighed deeply and began the story.

"Well, I'd originally gone to check on Minerva, because she'd apparently fallen down the stairs of her house and injured herself. I didn't realise that night was a full moon, so I'd assumed that Remus had just gone to the bathroom or something, and I didn't worry much about it, at least until I heard growling. I looked around and saw a fully grown male werewolf standing behind me and growling at me. I made sure Minerva was directly behind me so she wouldn't end up getting hurt, but it was me the werewolf was after, not Minerva. He went for my throat, but I used my arms to protect myself and he bit my left arm at the elbow, but the force of the bite had broken my upper arm. He let go of my arm and bit my wrist, breaking my forearm; so basically, my arm was broken in two places. The bones were able to be magically healed, but the bites weren't. Then a smaller werewolf joined in. This one was female and she started scratching at my face and neck while the male bit my upper arm. Now remember that the bone in my upper arm was broken, so the bite hurt quite a bit. I kicked the werewolf in the head and instead he bit my right ankle, breaking the skin, his teeth also going through my Achilles tendon and my muscles. And on top of that, the bone in my ankle snapped as well. Eventually, Minerva regained consciousness and saw the damage being dealt to me and she yelled at them, placing a silver collar around both their necks and dragging them outside. When she returned, she quickly called your father to come and collect me, and while we were waiting for him, she asked me the incantation to heal bones so she could heal my injuries, I told her and she healed my broken bones before bandaging my wounds, leaving my face and neck unbandaged so I was able to breathe." She finished and by the time she'd finished the story, Martha was in tears in her parents' arms.

"Martha, there's no need to cry." Sirius said softly to her, stroking her hair. "She's still alive for starters, and she's going to be alright."

"Just out of curiosity, though Martha, what brought on the sudden need to know?" Natalie asked her. Martha looked up at her parents.

"Christine's a werewolf and she told me that last year she spent the full moons in the Shrieking Shack with Remus. She told me that he's a rather violent werewolf and she spent time in the Hospital Wing recovering after every full moon. Mum, when you said the male werewolf attacked you when you were seeing to Professor McGonagall, I automatically knew that werewolf was Remus. Because, firstly I knew that he was a werewolf, and secondly I knew you were at his place, so it all fit." Martha said and Natalie nodded slowly.

"I know that Christine's a werewolf and that she spent the full moons last year in the Shrieking Shack with Remus, and also that she had to spend time in the Hospital Wing to recover from her injuries. But did she tell you when she was bitten? We asked her that, but she didn't say anything." She said.

"She wasn't bitten. Her father was when he was hanging around with Remus one full moon –" Martha began, but she was interrupted by Sirius.

"I remember that day as though it was yesterday. We were being idiots that night, and we'd decided to take the risk of others being bitten, and let Remus out of the Shrieking Shack, but William came running out of the tunnel after him in human form. Remus must've smelt or heard him, because he ran towards him, and before any of us knew what was happening, Remus was tearing at his throat with his teeth. I ran towards them in my dog form and bit the back of Remus' neck hard, forcing him to let go of William, but we knew that from then on, he'd be a werewolf. James and I forced Remus back inside the Shrieking Shack while Marcus and Pettigrew helped William. But we already feared that we'd been too late to save him. It took two weeks for him to regain consciousness, and after that, he didn't fully trust Remus and stayed away from him until two years later, when we'd managed to convince him to trust Remus again, that Remus hadn't meant it." Sirius said softly.

"Thank you Dad for that explanation, but as I was saying, as a result of William being bitten, Christine was born a werewolf." Martha explained and, when she saw her parents looking puzzled, she sighed and continued. "Apparently, when a werewolf has a child, the werewolf genes are passed on too. If the child takes after that parent in any way, they have a risk of being born a werewolf. For example, if the mother is a werewolf and she has a child, that child runs the risk of getting the werewolf gene from its mother and being a werewolf when it's born."

"Oh, okay, so if Remus has any kids, they run the risk of being werewolves?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah." Martha said and Natalie and Sirius exchanged a worried look. "What?" she asked her parents, confused. Sirius sighed deeply.

"Martha, we should've told you this before. In about eight and a half months time, you're going to have a younger brother or sister." He said.

"Wait, so you're saying Mum's pregnant?" she asked Sirius and half a smile flitted across his face.

"Yes Martha. Your mother is pregnant." He said and Martha looked at her parents.

"Okay," she yawned. "I'd better get to bed, because I still need to get up tomorrow morning so I don't miss the train." She said, hugging her parents goodnight. "And congratulations for the pregnancy, Mum." She whispered to her mother.

"Thank you Martha." Natalie laughed, watching Martha leave the room.


	2. Back to School

Chapter 2: Back to School

_Chapter 2: Back to School_

Martha woke next morning so see her bat, Tiny, flying around her head, squawking her little squawk. She looked around and saw Christine sitting on the edge of her bed, laughing and holding Tiny's cage open.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" she laughed.

"What time is it?" Martha asked, sitting up and cupping Tiny in her hands and placing her gently back into her cage. Christine looked at her watch.

"Ummm … about quarter past eight." She said. "And the others are already downstairs having brekkie. Do you want to join us?"

"Well, nah! I thought I was going to be antisocial and have breakfast alone!" Martha said sarcastically, walking down the stairs towards the dining room with Christine behind her, both of them laughing. Down in the dining room, Martha saw her friends and all their parents sitting down at the table, eating breakfast. Her parents were there too and Martha remembered what her parents told her the previous night.

"Hey Christine," she whispered to her friend.

"Yeah?" Christine whispered back as the pair walked to the table to eat breakfast.

"There's something I need to tell you and the others when we get on the train."

"Okay." Christine said, sitting down.

They all reached Kings Cross Station at ten thirty, allowing them time to get to Platform 9 ¾, where they would catch the Hogwarts Express to school. Once on Platform 9 ¾, Martha met up with Dean, who ran up to her, kissing her briefly.

"How were your holidays, Martha?" he asked her softly.

"Good, what about yours?" she asked him, hugging him.

"Mine were okay, though I missed you greatly."

"Same here. Oh yeah, there's something I need to tell you on the train." She whispered.

"What about the other girls?" Dean asked her, motioning to the rest of the Maraudesses.

"They can listen too." She said. "They already know this; Mum was bitten by a werewolf during the holidays."

"Wait, you're telling me that your mother was bitten by a werewolf, so is therefore also a werewolf?" he asked in an undertone.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. The next part, though, they don't know." She said and Dean looked briefly at Natalie.

"I can see that she's injured." He whispered. "Anyway, let's get on the train so we can get a compartment."

"Martha, I've got to get to Hogwarts, and I suggest you get onto the train before you miss it." Natalie said, kissing her forehead briefly. Martha waved, before she disapparated. Severus said goodbye to Dora before he disapparated after Natalie. All the students were beginning to get onto the train and the Maraudesses and Dean followed, finding an empty compartment and going into it. Martha closed the door and sat down, when there was suddenly a knock on the door, and through the window, Martha could see a girl with light brown hair and brown eyes, as well as wearing glasses. Martha stood up and opened the door.

"Excuse me, do you think I'd be able to join you in your compartment?" she asked timidly. "I mean, everywhere else is full."

"Sure." Martha said, inviting her inside.

"Thanks." The girl said. "My name is Paige Lupin, what are your names?"

"I'm Martha Black, this is my boyfriend, Dean Ethene, this is Lannastar Potter, this is Dora Snape, this is Adelyne Marlo, and this is Christine Wilkinson." Martha said, motioning to the respective people.

"Hi." Paige said.

"If you want, Paige, you can also join our friendship group, the Canine Maraudesses. Although Dean's kind of exempt."

"Why is the group called the Canine Maraudesses?" Paige asked and Martha looked thoughtful.

"Have you ever heard of the group called the Marauders?" Martha asked her and she shook her head.

"Well, the Marauders were a group of six boys all about the same age called Remus Lupin, Marcus Marlo, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, Sirius Black and William Wilkinson. All were pranksters and enjoyed mischief. I've got a picture of them if you want to see." She explained and Paige nodded and Martha rummaged through her trunk and pulled out the picture. "This was taken when they were in their fifth year." She said, handing it to Paige, who looked at it.

"Do you recognise any of them? Do you know if your father was a member?" Christine asked her.

"I'm not sure if my father was a member, but that's him in the picture, there." Paige said, pointing to the Remus in the picture.

"Well, that proves that your father was a member, but do you think I could ask you a couple of questions about him?" Martha asked her, as she handed the picture back.

"Yeah. Go for your life." Paige replied.

"I'm warning you, they may be a little personal, and if you don't want to answer any, you don't have to." Martha warned her and she shrugged. "Well, firstly, is your father a werewolf?"

"Yes, please don't hate him for it." Paige said softly and Martha looked rather taken aback.

"Don't worry Paige, Christine is also a werewolf and we don't hate her for it." Martha said and Paige seemed to relax a bit. "Secondly, no offence Paige, but are you a werewolf too?" she said. "Because I know that if a parent is a werewolf, their child has a chance of being born a werewolf."

Paige sighed.

"Yes, I'm also a werewolf. I was born a werewolf." She said.

"What's your mum's name?"

"Minerva Lupin."

"My mum went to see your mum last full moon and was attacked by a large male werewolf and a smaller female werewolf. Then I was told that your mum regained consciousness and put a silver collar on them and took them outside. Were you and your dad those werewolves?"

"Yeah. Sorry about your mum by the way, is she alright?"

"She's okay. But I'm more concerned about my unborn brother or sister. That's what's worrying me. You see, because my mum's a werewolf, my younger sibling is likely to be born a werewolf now."

"Oh. I'm so sorry about what Dad and I did to your mum. If it weren't for us, your sibling would be born like any other child." Paige said, looking guilty.

"Don't worry about it Paige, it's not your fault."

"Wait a sec, Martha." Dean said to her. "You're saying your mum's pregnant?"

"Duh! How else was I supposed to have an unborn sibling?" Martha said sarcastically to him. "Unless you're saying my dad got pregnant."

"No. That would just be really weird." Dean said, laughing.

"And not to mention physically and biologically impossible." Christine piped up and everyone laughed.

"Oh yeah, and gross …" Lannastar laughed, shaking her head vigorously.

"Did you actually get an image of it, Lanna?" Dora asked her, laughing.

"Well, duh! And the image was just over-gross!"

"Dora, you know you're not meant to be imagining my father naked." Martha said, her eyes closed tightly and her hands on her temples.

"Martha, you know you're not meant to be making everyone else imagine him nude. You'll just gross us all out that way." Adelyne said, also shaking her head vigorously and her glasses flew across the compartment. "And shaking my head that vigorously isn't a very good idea, either." She laughed, retrieving her glasses.

"No, because you actually end up without any specks on." Paige laughed, glad that she had friends.

"By the way Paige, are you a first year?" Martha asked her new friend, suddenly stopping her laughing.

"Yeah, and bloody nervous, too." Paige laughed.

"That's alright Paige, first year isn't that bad." Adelyne said, sitting next to her.

"Anyway, Martha what was it you wanted to talk to us about?" Dora asked Martha curiously.

"That was partially it. But also the fact that Mum and Dad are really worried that the baby's going to be a werewolf when it's born."

"They shouldn't worry too much about it; the baby has a higher chance of being a werewolf if both parents are werewolves. And I highly doubt that your dad's a werewolf." Paige said.

"No, Dad's not a werewolf, but they're still really worried, because they both know how rough and violent werewolves can be, and they're worried that the baby might be hurt on full moons. Dad's even contemplating getting himself bitten so he's able to be there for the baby on full moons." Martha said.

"Tell him not to! The transformation in itself is incredibly painful and not to mention the fact that there's only a small chance the child will be a werewolf! And if the child isn't a werewolf and he gets himself bitten, he'll be stuck with the transformations for the rest of his life and he'd have got himself bitten for nothing!" Christine exclaimed, looking shocked.

"Well, the fact that there's only a small chance of the child being a werewolf, that didn't seem to exist with your fathers, Christine and Paige. Both had children that were werewolves."

"My brother's not a werewolf, and we share the same father." Paige said indignantly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to burst out like that, it's just my mum is likely to spend full moons getting herself hurt and she's going to have a baby that might be a werewolf. I'm just really worried, I don't want to be the elder sister of a baby that might die on its first full moon of its life. And what if it's born on a full moon! Mum will have the baby as a werewolf and then if the baby's not a werewolf, it'll be killed by werewolves all the same." Martha said, tears now running down her cheeks. Dean sighed and placed his arms around her, his head resting gently on her shoulder.

"It's alright Martha." He whispered softly to her. "Don't panic, your mum'll be okay, and so will your baby brother or sister, alright?"

"O-okay." Martha choked, her breathing shallow as she tried to take deep, calming breaths.

"Are you okay, Martha?" Paige asked her awkwardly.

"I-I'll be alright. I think." Martha said, finally calming down slightly. "It was just worry that caused the sudden emotional breakdown"

"Are you sure Martha?" Adelyne asked her softly, moving slightly closer to her.

"I'm okay, really." Martha reassured them, just as the train pulled into the station and the seven students got off.

"Leave your stuff on board, Paige. It'll be brought up to the school for you." Martha said and Paige nodded and followed them off the train and onto the platform, where they saw the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, Rubeus Hagrid, calling all first years to follow him. Paige looked fearfully at her friends.

"Don't worry Paige, it'll be alright. I'll see you at the sorting." Martha said.

"S!" Christine exclaimed, looking gingerly up.

"Wha – oh S!" Lannastar said and she and the others all looked up.

"Paige, don't worry about the sorting now, come with me!" Christine called and Paige ran back, and Martha could see the horrific transformation starting to occur in both of them. Their faces were becoming more wolf-like and their noses becoming elongated as they ran towards the school, but they only made it just into the school gates when their transformation was complete – they were full werewolves now. Monsters hungry for blood. And there were students already beginning to enter the gates. Martha and her remaining friends all ran forward and stopped them, telling them there were two werewolves loose in the grounds. People looked around them, trying to catch a glimpse of the werewolves.

"Where are the werewolves, then?" a Slytherin boy in his sixth year asked, pushing past the girls.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, the werewolves will bite you if they find you." Dora said warningly to him, but he didn't pay any attention, until a loud growl was heard, accompanied by screaming and the sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing. Everyone stepped back and soon it was only Martha and her friends at the gates to the school.

"I'm going to go and see what happened to that Slytherin boy." Martha said, making up her mind.

"No, Martha! He's likely to be dead, but I don't want you to get yourself hurt or killed now!" Dean said, stopping her.

"Dean, he was a fellow student, and I can't just leave him there if he's still alive!" Martha said, walking into the school.

"If you're going, we're all going. That way, we at least have half a chance of confusing them." Lannastar said, stepping forward.

"But if you die, I'll be responsible." Martha said, tears choking her voice.

"And if you die, we'd never be able to forgive ourselves for letting you go alone." Adelyne said, also stepping forward.

"Okay. Then we should at least tell an adult what we're doing. Like Sirius or someone like that." Lannastar said.

"I heard that McGonagall is also an animagi. Maybe we could let her know." Adelyne said hopefully.

"No, because her form is a cat, and werewolves would see that as a snack. We'll let the Marauders know." Dora said. "I'll run through to the castle, and you guys be careful when distracting them. This is a really dangerous operation, and we could have some serious casualties." She said and the five remaining friends all ran into the grounds.

"I'm going to get them into the Shrieking Shack, that way, we'll be safe." Martha said and Adelyne, Dean and Lannastar offered to help her. "Has anyone got silver?"

"Why silver?"

"Because if it touches them, it burns them, but if its anywhere near them, they're weakened from its effects." Martha explained and Adelyne conjured silver necklaces, which she gave to each of them, including Dora, who thanked her and ran off.

"At least that way, they'll stay away from her, because they'll be able to sense the silver and will steer clear of it." Martha said as the four remaining ran further into the grounds when Martha suddenly tripped.

"Martha!" Dean exclaimed, running towards her and helping her up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. _Lumos_!" she said, pulling out her wand, which lit up instantly and Martha saw with horror that it was the Slytherin boy that had pushed past her, laying with his head at a funny angle and his blank eyes staring straight ahead, fear and surprise still engraved into his pale face. She touched his cheek. It was still warm, but he was obviously dead.

"He's dead." Martha whispered, magically producing a sheet and covering him with it, and as she pulled it over his head, the four heard the werewolves growling at them.

They ran around the werewolves, their wands held out in front of them for protection. The werewolves suddenly seemed sluggish, running much slower and not wanting to continue after about two minutes. The four friends used their wands and the silver necklaces to drive the werewolves towards the Whomping Willow, which waved its branches around, trying to hit them.

"Dean, the knot!" Martha yelled, and from the light from her wand, she could see him press the knot in the roots and the three girls drove the werewolves down into the tunnel underneath the tree. But one of them suddenly got aggressive and lunged forward, biting Martha on the wrist, breaking the skin. Martha screamed in pain, just as a large black dog came running into the tunnel and Martha instantly recognised him as her father.

"Thanks Dad." She whispered, running out of the tunnel, her wrist bleeding profusely. She was starting to feel dizzy and senseless. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she dropped her wand and soon followed it, hitting the ground with a soft thud.

By the time she woke, it was the next morning and Martha saw Paige and Christine sitting by her bed, looking worried.

"Martha!" came a shout as Dean came over, also looking worried. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore, groggy, light-headed, you know." She said. "Where's Mum and Dad?"

"Your mother's not happy, and your dad said he'd better go comfort her." Christine said softly.

"Was I bitten?" Martha asked slowly. Christine, Paige and Dean looked at each other. Now the inevitable answer would come …

"Yes, I'm sorry Martha. I bit you." Paige said, tears entering her eyes and falling down her cheeks. Christine placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"It's alright Paige. You didn't mean it. I understand that, so there's no need to apologise." Martha said and at that moment, Sirius and Natalie came walking out of Natalie's office, saw Martha and practically sprinted over.

"Are you alright Martha?" they asked her in unison and she and all her friends started laughing.

"I'm okay, but my right wrist hurts like hell!" she said, looking down at the injured wrist and she saw the bandages were becoming bloodstained. "Oh, lovely!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "Is my wrist really bleeding _that much_!?"

"Apparently so." Natalie said, gently unbandaging it. "And anyone who has a weak stomach, I suggest you don't watch this, there's obviously going to be a lot of blood involved." She warned the others, but none of them turned away. "Suit yourselves, but if anyone faints, don't say I didn't warn you." She said, continuing to unbandage Martha's wrist. Removing the bandage, she gently removed the padding with it. Martha gritted her teeth as she did this and she could see her whole wrist was rather swollen and red raw, the bite marks still bleeding profusely.

"That'll take a while to heal." Natalie told her, gently putting fresh padding onto the wrist. "So you won't be able to write for quite a while."

"But will I still be able to go to classes?" Martha asked her nervously.

"We'll wait for another couple of weeks before I make a decision. We'll have to keep you in here until then." Natalie said and Martha looked a bit downhearted as Adelyne, Dora and Lannastar all appeared by her bed and saw her looking downhearted.

"But besides that, Martha, Paige was sorted into Ravenclaw this morning." Adelyne said in an attempt to cheer Martha up a bit.

"Congrats Paige!" Martha said, grinning at her friend. "But what about the rest of the students? Like the first years and the other years?" she asked, looking at her friends and boyfriend.

"The first years were all sorted last night, and the other students were all able to get up to the school safely and were welcomed as usual from Dumbledore." Dean said to her.

"And how'd I get in here? Did someone carry me last night or this morning?"

"This morning. That's why we were so worried about you. Because your wrist was bleeding profusely right through the night without any clotting or padding, so it got infected by this morning. Your father told us to go to the Great Hall for the sorting, that he would take you up when he'd finished the fight." Adelyne said.

"The fight lasted until early this morning. Sorry Martha. I should've got the others to carry you up last night." Sirius said, looking guilty and downhearted.

"Actually, you're all lucky you didn't make it right into the Shrieking Shack." Natalie said, her hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Because you all would've come across a full grown werewolf – me. I was in there last night."

"When your mother emerged from the Shrieking Shack this morning and saw you unconscious with an infected wound to the wrist, she was distraught. Actually, she was telling me off. She carried you up here and lay you on the bed, before cleaning and dressing the wound. Then she disappeared into her office and I told these two that I'd better go comfort her. Once in her office I explained to her exactly what had happened and she eventually calmed down, apologising for telling me off, and said she'd better go check how you were and I told her I'd follow her. The rest you know." Sirius said. "But she had the right to tell me off for leaving you out there in the open for the whole night."

"Dad, you didn't realise your fight would last that long. You just thought you would have to drive them into the Shack and that would be it. You didn't expect to meet resistance." Martha reassured her father. Sirius sighed and nodded.

"You're obviously very educated about werewolves." He said and Martha laughed softly.

"Talk to my friends about that." She said, smiling.

"Just all of you, please look after her." Natalie said and the others all nodded, promising they would. Natalie smiled at them all and nodded.

"I suggest you all get to class before you're late." Sirius said, looking at his watch. The others farewelled Martha and left.

Martha was eventually allowed to leave the Hospital Wing, but it was October by the time her mother allowed her to leave. She walked into the Great Hall on the morning of the fourth and joined her friends at the Ravenclaw table.

"Hey Martha!" Paige whispered. "How are you?" she asked her.

"I'm fine, but I keep getting this strange feeling … a kind of urge to go hunting. I don't know what it's about, but it's starting to worry me."

"That's the first sign a full moon's coming up." Christine said in a whisper. "the next sign will be an urge to eat fresh meat. Then there'll be the urge for blood. The urge for blood usually comes on the day of the full moon. That's when you know to get ready and head down to the Shrieking Shack." She explained. "The urges for hunting usually comes a couple of days before the full moon. It lasts about a day before you get the urge for fresh meat, which occurs the day before the full moon. Then on the day of the full moon, you start to feel the urge for blood, then when the moon's high in the sky, you'll begin your transformation. That's about ten pm when it happens. You'll eventually get used to the rhythm of the transformations, when they happen, and how to tell when it'll happen. It'll all come to you eventually and it'll soon seem like second nature." She said and Martha nodded and gulped, now really nervous.


	3. The Full Moon Arrives

_Chapter 3: The Full Moon Arrives_

Two days later, it was the day of the full moon and Martha, Christine, Paige, Adelyne and Natalie were all sitting together in the Hospital Wing, waiting for night to fall. It was five o'clock pm and Martha tried talking to the others to prevent her nervousness, but nothing worked. Sirius walked in at about half past five, hugged Martha briefly, kissed Natalie briefly and Martha couldn't help but become tearful, because she was worried that would be the last time she ever received a hug from her father. Natalie placed an arm around her shoulders, whispering to her that it would be alright.

"Are you sure Mum?" Martha whimpered and Natalie sighed.

"I'm sure Martha. I didn't die on my first full moon, so you're not going to either."

"Your mum's right, Martha. You're not going to die. Hey, my first full moon was the day after I was born, to tell the truth, and I survived. Even with several adult male werewolves trying to kill me." Christine said, smiling slightly. A small smile even flitted across Martha's face for a second. At that moment, Madam Pomfrey walked in and looked at the five. She walked over to Natalie, placed a hand on her shoulder, whispered something, nodded at Christine, Adelyne and Paige and smiled slightly at Martha.

"You'll be alright, Martha. Believe me. Your mother will make sure of that. And so will I if you end up coming back unconscious. None of us are going to let you die." She said softly and Martha returned her smile, before looking enquiringly at her mother. Natalie seemed to be able to tell what she meant without her having to say anything. She sighed and leaned in closer to Martha.

"Yes Martha, Madam Pomfrey is my mother. She's your real grandmother." She whispered and Martha looked surprised and puzzled. "She and my father … well … let's just say he'd been in love with her before he met the muggle that thought she was my mother."

"So … so Madam Pomfrey had the same feelings for him as he did for her?" Martha asked in a soft whisper.

"Yeah, and after I was born, he'd met the muggle and, because he hadn't married Madam Pomfrey at the time, I was raised by my mother for the first ten months of my life, because my father had had an argument with her and left her, met the muggle a couple of weeks later and they ended up with a baby nine months after that – that baby being your Aunt Lana. Now because I was born three weeks premature and I was only about the size of a newborn at the age of ten months, so my father told Madam Pomfrey he was going to look after me and that she would see me when she wanted to. She reluctantly agreed and my father took me back to his wife, who had just had a caesarean and was still under anaesthetic, so he was able to get me in there without suspicion. So I was raised by a muggle, even though my mother was a witch. Eventually, after my father divorced the muggle, he took me with him to a separate house, where he wanted to look for new love. He met your father's mother shortly afterwards, but it never actually turned into a love, and when he next saw my mother, he was instantly in love again, so my parents ended up getting married shortly afterwards. So now my parents are married." She finished, and the five got up, farewelled their friends, Sirius and Madam Pomfrey and walked out of the Hospital Wing and down towards the grounds. They walked towards the Whomping Willow and Christine quickly prodded the knot in the roots before all five quickly slipped through the gap in the roots one by one and into the tunnel beyond. Martha could feel severe pain beginning to start in her feet first and spreading through the rest of her body. Martha eventually completed her transformation and she, along with Natalie, Paige, Adelyne and Christine, all started running around, biting and scratching each other, breaking the skin and causing bleeding. Although it first started out as play fighting, it quickly turned more aggressive and sinister, as they were all trying to establish dominance over the rest. Martha bit Christine on the throat and Natalie bit her on the back of the neck, but Martha let go of Christine and twisted around to bite Natalie. Suddenly, though, just as it seemed she was going to kill Natalie, a sudden blast of the scent of prey hit all the werewolves suddenly and they all stopped their fighting and stood completely still, before running towards the source of the scent. It was a human boy. He looked in fear at the four werewolves coming at him and ran at top speed back out of the Shrieking Shack and into the tunnel, where he scrambled out of reach of the oncoming werewolves, but Paige got a hold on his ankle with her teeth. She shook her head and dragged him slowly down, but the sun began to rise at that time and the five began their transformation back to humans. Once as people, Martha saw with horror, who the human they'd chased was. It was Dean and he was sitting on the floor clutching his left ankle, his teeth gritted in pain. Martha ran over to him, tears in her eyes.

"Are you alright, Dean?" she asked him softly, helping him to his right foot.

"Yeah. I think I should be alright." He whispered, leaning heavily on Martha, who led him slowly out of the tunnel, where Natalie ran forward and pressed the knot in the roots. The tree was completely immobile when Martha and Dean exited the tunnel and began the walk back up to the school.

Back up at the school, Martha and Natalie took Dean up to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey sat him down and tended to his injury. While she was doing that, she turned to Martha and Natalie.

"How did you go last night, Martha?" she asked.

"Besides Dean having been bitten, I guess it wasn't too bad. Just painful." She said, sitting next to her boyfriend and watching Madam Pomfrey dressing the wound.


	4. The New Defence Method

_Chapter 4: The New Defence Method_

Martha and her second-year friends (Adelyne, Dora, Christine and Lannastar) looked at their timetable to see what they had for the day.

"Double potions first with the Gryffindors, bugger! After that, we have History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs and after lunch we have Herbology with the Slytherins, then Double Transfiguration also with the Slytherins." She said to her friends.

"Martha, when you said bugger, did you mean about Potions or about having Potions with the Gryffindors?" Dora asked her.

"I meant about having it with the Gryffindors." Martha replied, laughing.

"Anyway, what do you have today, Paige?" Adelyne asked their first-year friend softly. Paige looked at her timetable in confusion.

"I have double Transfiguration with the Slytherins. After that I have Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors, and the same after lunch, before I have double Potions with the Gryffindors again, dammit!" she said, and they all laughed.

"Anyway, I think we'd better get to breakfast before class starts." Adelyne said, still laughing.

"Oh well…I guess we can't help it if we have to do these classes with Gryffindors, as irritating as it is." Paige said, laughing, as they walked to the Great Hall.

Paige caught up with the five second-years at lunch time, and together they walked to the Great Hall to eat lunch.

"So Paige, how did Trans go?" Dora asked her as they entered the Great Hall.

"Well, we learned how to turn needles and pins into hedgehogs, but other than that, it got a little boring…" Paige replied dully. "And DADA was also rather boring, before you ask. Moody wouldn't let us have a practical lesson…all we did was take notes." She added when Martha opened her mouth.

"Well, you can't really help that…Moody isn't really the best teacher on earth." Martha said, shrugging. "We had him for Trans one day when McGonagall was sick."

"Really? That would've made it even more boring…" Paige said, laughing.

"Yeah…we've got Defence tomorrow. It'll be my first Defence lesson of the year, because I wasn't allowed out of the Hospital Wing until it was almost the next full moon." Martha said softly, and her friends all looked at her sympathetically.

The next day, Martha looked at her timetable and saw that her first class that day was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Together, she and her friends all walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, before Paige walked towards the greenhouses for Herbology, while the rest of them walked towards the staircase which would take them to the third floor, on which the DADA classroom was located. But before they could walk in, Dean suddenly came running out of nowhere towards her.

"What the hell!?" Martha yelped, taking a step backwards to brace herself against his leap into her arms. "What was with the leap of faith into my arms, Dean?" she asked him, surprised.

"Well, I just hadn't seen you in ages." Dean replied, shrugging.

"You idiot." Martha muttered under her breath.

"Okay, since when was I an idiot, Martha?" he asked her, his hands on his hips.

"Crap, I forgot I bit you last full moon." She said, laughing.

"Okay then, to remind you, here you go." He said, lifting his trouser leg to show where the scars from the last full moon were still visible.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She said, walking into the classroom. They took their seats at the back of the classroom, Martha's friends sitting a row in front of Martha and Dean, seeming to know they would want to catch up on gossip from the past.

"Just don't kiss him, Martha." Adelyne warned her. "Moody can see through things, and he'll see you two, so just whisper to each other, but no kissing."

"Don't worry, Adelyne. Dean and I will be good." Martha laughed, sitting down and taking her books out of her bag.

Their DADA teacher, Professor Moody, walked in a minute later, instructing them all to sit down and open their books to page 50. They all did as they were told and opened their books, Martha just following what Dean was doing.

"Okay that's enough time to read. Take out your wands everyone." Moody said, and the class did as they were told. "Stand up in groups of four over there." He added pointing to the outermost wall of the classroom, where the window was located. They did as they were told, Martha joining up with Dean, Christine and Dora. "Now I want you to practise defending yourselves against the disarming charm. After that I'll get you to practise disarming opponents. We'll see about the level you're at after that." He said and Martha was voted the one more in need of practise at defending herself against unfriendly disarming spells.

"Martha, we'll shoot disarming spells at you one at a time and you have to try and block them. Okay?" Christine said and Martha nodded, taking her wand out and holding it at the ready. "_Expelliarmus_!" she said.

"_Protego_!" Martha said and the disarming spell deflected off the shield Martha had created.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Dean said, his wand pointed at Martha.

"_Protego_!" Martha said and Dean's spell, too, was deflected from the shield.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Dora said.

"_Protego_!" Martha deflected the third spell and they rotated turns to make sure they all got practise.


End file.
